The Turkish parliament has approved Finland's bid to join NATO, clearing a path for the country to join the security alliance amid continued fears about the threat posed by Russia among its European neighbors following its invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey was the last of NATO's 30 members to ratify the accession of Finland, which shares a land border with Russia and had long maintained neutral relations with its neighbor. Thursday's move could trigger a reaction from Moscow, which has previously warned of military repercussions if Finland joined NATO.
Alongside Sweden, Finland applied to join the alliance in May last year in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Sweden's membership, however, is still being held up by Turkey and Hungary, as all NATO members' parliaments must give their approval.
Finland shares a 1,300-kilometer-long border with Russia and, until its application to NATO, had a neutrality agreement with the country after losing significant amounts of territory to the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, during World War II.
Finland is now in the process of formal admittance to NATO, with the process expected to last a number of weeks.
Turkey has made its approval of both countries into the alliance conditional upon their support in fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey and believed to have been behind decades of attacks in the country.
Following a meeting on March 17 with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will approve Finland's NATO application ahead of Sweden's, due to what he described as its full cooperation in measures against the organization.
It remains unclear, however, when Sweden's application will be approved. Hungary has been reluctant to ratify Sweden's membership, while the Turkish government has criticized Stockholm over its lack of cooperation in handing over what it considers terrorist suspects.
